Latest Email From Poland

**Sorry it is a little late but here is the latest update from Poland**

The training is going alright so far, it is way different and hard to get used to but it is going alright. My companion is Elder Taylor, he's from California. He's a pretty cool kid so far, kind of quarky, but we all are in each of our own ways. He is doing really well with the language already, much better than I did when I got to Poland. This whole new group seems to be doing really well with the language. It was pretty cool seeing all the Elders from this new group, they almost all knew Wendy because she cut some of their hair. Elder Taylor is way into gymnastics and stuff like that. He is okay, I'm still getting used to serving with him though. We'll see how it goes.
This week has been really good. I love having the other missionaries here with us. One of the missionaries here, Elder Handley, just served here 2 months ago and everyone is so happy he is back now. He is the district leader now, and he is way cool I like him a lot. His companion is Elder Trost, he's from germany and was in my district in Poznań, he's a pretty cool kid too. Unfortunately I think he will be leaving our mission soon, he's going to go to the Germany mission because he won't learn the language.
We had a good sunday the other day, President Pawlik from the district presidency came and after all the sunday meetings we had a meeting with our newest member Sławek. He's going to be getting the melchezidek priesthood at District conference next month! I'm so excited for him, he is such a cool guy. It will be so cool to see him get the priesthood, I'm way excited for that.
Yesterday we went to Warsaw for zone conference, it was really good I always enjoy going to zone conferences and seeing all the missionaries that I have become good friends with there. I was able to stay with Elder Brown and that was way cool. I really like him a lot, he is such a good missionary! We had so much fun when we served together. The missionary that he was just put with, the one that wanted to go home early, is already home now, that was way sad to hear. I feel way bad for Elder Brown cause he was way sad to see that kid go.
It has been so cold here the past week! During the night it gets down to -30 celcius and in the day sometimes -20 Its been pretty misserable, but it is okay. We still have fun and try to talk to people. Now one wants to talk when it is that cold out and I sure don't blame them, but we are finding other ways to stay productive. We have been working on the area book a lot and we have been doing more trakting than usual. It has been pretty fun.
I got to keep this short and I'm sorry I'm sending the same email to everyone but this week was kind of weird. I got kicked out of the library on tuesday because there were a lot of people waiting then we had to go to Warsaw and we had zone conference on Wednesday and we just got back here in Kielce not long ago. I love you all so much and I hope that everything keeps going well. I will write more next week. I love you so much family!

Love your son and brother, Elder Anderton

Cutest Call

Yesterday when I got home from work, I received the cutest call from Emmalee. She was calling me to let me know that she was getting glasses and how happy she was to be getting them. She followed after Melanie when picking out the first pair because they are black and pink just like her big sister wears. Mom even took her out for a Keva to celebrate the occasion. I can't believe that this little nine year old girl is now having to wear glasses. I think this is a record for the family...every one wears glasses or contacts except for Trevor and Mom (although Mom should probably start looking into it...ha ha just kidding Mom).

Starting to look a little bit cold

Pictures from Poland

Family Proclamation

Happy 24th Birthday

A birthday is best when you spend it with the ones that you love. I don't think that this birthday could have been any better...conference, family, football and presents :) What an awesome day!!! I was blessed to spend my birthday at home with my family. The past two birthdays I spent in the MTC and in the mission field. They were great but I missed being with the ones that I love. Emmalee gave me a George Foreman Grill. Trevor gave me a set of weights. Katelyn the new Gerald Lund book, Undaunted. Melanie took me to dinner and a movie. Mom gave me my favorite present ever, harvest decorations. Dad gave me a toilet paper holder. Kendra gave me a bag with some fun inside jokes from the mission: a whoopie cushion, a basketball set, tootsie pops, silly string, cake, and a beautiful picture of Christ. What a fun birthday. I think my favorite part is always having the family sing different versions of "Happy Birthday" at the same time. It always puts a smile on my face. Tonight we are going to have birthday dinner with Grandma Walton.

What to do with BAD tomatoes?

As inspiration from our brother on the mission, we decided to have a little tomato war with those rotting tomatoes in the garden. A few years ago Brett and Trevor had the fun of putting firecrackers in tomatoes and Trevor happened to throw one over the roof of the house. Well today we decided to do the same thing minus the firecrackers. Katelyn stood in the back of the house, while Trevor and I were in the front. We tossed the tomatoes over and watched as they exploded on the lawn, the roof, us, and even the car. What fun we had! We just wish that our brother could have been there. At least he will be back in time for our war next year. We are counting on you Brett to even out the teams :)

Five New Temples of the Lord Announced

In the first session of General Conference this morning, President Monson spoke to the congregation. In his talk he announced five new temples. The locations of the new temples will be Brigham City, Utah; Concepción, Chile; Fortaleza, Brazil; Ft. Lauderdale, Florida; and Sapporo, Japan. With the 16 temples that are currently in progress or already announced plus these five new ones, the temple count will raise to 151. In Utah we will now have 14 temples. President Monson said that for most members of the church there is a temple within 200 miles. He wants that to be the way it is for ALL memebers of the church. How exciting it is to see the House of the Lord literally dotting the entire world!

Dislocated thumb but still came out with a win

On the first play of the game, Trevor ended up coming off the field with a dislocated thumb. After being taped back up, he went in to block Taylorville and Viewmont ended up with a touchdown. Viewmont ended up with a total of 19 points...three touchdowns and a one point conversion. We are proud of our Vikings for pulling off the win on this cloudy and cold Saturday afternoon. Good job to number 98, Trevor Anderton, on continuing to play a GREAT game!!!

Green Lightening Updates

After a four week winning stretch, the Green Lightening soccer team unfortunately lost their game. Although they lost, our famous little soccer star, Emmalee, got the team on the board with a goal. When Sydney threw Emmalee the ball from the sideline, she graciously kicked the ball into the goal, as cheers went up. The Blue Lightening Queens gave the Green Lightening a run for their money. Hopefully our girls will pull it off next week. CONGRATULATIONS goes out to our soccer star, Emmalee Anderton!!!

Elder Anderton Weekly Email

This has been an excelent week, we have been seeing a lot of great miracles happening here and all over the mission. Things are going so great! :) I can't even explain it, I know that there are a lot of things that I still need to work on and figure out in my life, but I really do feel like I am figuring myself out here. I feel like I know exactly who I am and I am becoming so much more comfortable with my talents and not comparing them to others. I believe whole heartedly that Heavenly Father really has created each of us with so much patient attention, we are all truly unique and loved. I may not be as good at a lot of things as others are, but there are things that I feel I have been blessed with and I want to use my blessings to help others. That is what Heavenly Father wants us to do with our talents. I used to always be sad about all the things that I am lacking in where others are thriving, but that doesn't matter. We use what we have and make the best out of it and we will be happy! It is quite simple, we all just need to discover who we are and be exactly who we are. On sunday this guy showed up to church that called us a couple weeks ago asking about english and church. It was so cool! He is amazing he met the missionaries here a couple years ago and told them that he would come to our church and learn about it and now he finally is. He told us that right now there are a couple things he is really interested in, our language and our religion, how perfect! He is a way normal guy and he has a cool family, a wife and a little girl. Elder Brown and I think that he will deffinately get baptized and we are hoping it will happen while we are here. We are going to have a first meeting with him and I believe with his whole family tomorrow, I'm really excited for it. We have been getting so many referals that we have been having a hard time finding time to go find them. We have been so busy that it just feels great! We are doing a lot of good I hope.
We are seeing success in all sorst of shapes and sizes! We have so much going for us! I am very happy right now :) I'm glad that I am here in Poland, I don't feel like I could ever ask for more!
I'm way sorry I want to send home some pictures, but these computers at the internet cafe are no good, there are only a couple that have usb ports that work and they are always zajęty so I can never send pictures home. Knock on wood that next week I will be able to. I want you to see how beautiful this place is, we have been going from castle to castle these last few pdays, it is so cool! Last week we went to this castle way out in the hills of this little old village, it was beatiful! It is all in ruins and you can just run around all over it, no one really is in charge of it or anything. Today we went to this other castle that was kind of the same thing just out on top of this hill, built into the rocks surrounded by these little old farms and stuff. It was so cool, we got to just run around on it and take pictures. I love Kato/Sosnowiec. The Śląsk is such a cool area, the people here are so cool. It is dirty and there are a lot more crazy people and stuff but there is just this special attitude here and there are the coolest castles ever!

I LOVE YOU!!!

Love, Elder Brett Anderton!

Reflection on the past two years

Yesterday was the two year anniversary of my entering the mission field. In just a few days I will be hitting my seven month mark of being home. Today during sacrament meeting I started reflecting on some of the lessons that I learned during those 18 months of service. With today being fast Sunday I wanted to focus on how I can become a better person and more like my Savior Jesus Christ. Maybe this is why I started reflecting on the mission. I mean for 18 months or 2 years they continually plead with you to be more like the Savior and miraculous things will follow. Some of those miraculous things end up being those tender mercies the Lord pours out upon you each and every day but you may not think they are too miraculous.

Just a few of the lessons
1. Families CAN and WILL be together FOREVER if we follow the Saviors plan for us.
-To be honest I don't think I really grasped on to this concept until the very last day of my mission. On the last day of the mission we had the opportunity of going to the Orlando Temple. This was the first time I was able to go since being in the MTC. I recall after we finished the endowment session and we entered the Celestial Room, I felt a sense of loneliness. My parents weren't there to greet me as they had done before when I went through the Bountiful Temple and even though I was with other missionaries I still had the longing of others being there. I sat and pondered the reason I went out on a mission. It became clear to me that all those who I had the opportunity to work with and see enter into the waters of baptism were on their way to being with their families FOREVER. I knew right then the importance of following Heavenly Father's plan so that we can be in the celestial kingdom together and not have a sense of longing for others to be there.

2. Faith preceeds the miracle or sign
-In my Doctrine and Covenants class we have been talking a lot about Martin Harris. Martin Harris was one that needed the miracle or sign before he could truly believe. I find myself like that too. Yet the Lord doesn't work that way. Each day in the field we would go out and expect miracles to happen yet all too often I would get discouraged and lose sight of my faith. It was on those days that nothing would happen. On the days that even though it was hard, I would endure with faith that things happened. We have to do our part before the Lord will do His. Even being back here I have gone through some things that try my faith but when I let my faith carry me through the Lord is always there to lift me higher and ease my burdens.

3. Sometimes the Lord allows us to be tried because He sees our FULL potential...we only see things we can't do.
-If you are anything like me you too will dwell on what you aren't good at. There were tons of days that I couldn't give my best effort because I didn't think I was good enough to be out. All too often I would let that get the best of me. I remember one time I was serving with Sister Butterfield back in Seminole. I only had 6 months left and I started to think I wasn't good enough because we couldn't find ANYONE to teach. One day I recall spending an hour in the dark bathroom just crying and feeling like there was no hope for me. I felt as though the light of Christ had gone out of me. It was an awful feeling. I would try to pray and nothing would happen. I kept wondering how the Lord could allow me to feel this way especially because I was a missionary. After awhile I came out of the bathroom and went to the bedroom. Sister Butterfield came in and tried to comfort me. She kept asking me to bear my testimony. I couldn't. I felt so dark and alone. She suggested that I get a priesthood blessing. Upon doing that I felt the love of the Lord through Brother Galloway who gave me the blessing. I remember in the blessing the Lord telling me how proud He was of what I had been accomplishing thus far. At that moment I realized that the Lord was trying me because He sees me in terms of tomorrow where I see me in terms of today. Through that experience I grew and realized that there is much I can do WITH the Lord on my side. If He isn't with me I will never reach my FULL potential.

These are just a few of the lessons that I learned and that I had the opportunity to reflect on today in church. How grateful I am that I heeded the Spirit and went on my mission. I have learned so much and grew a greater love for the gospel, the Savior and Heavenly Father, and even my family. I had the privilege of serving with some wonderful sisters who each taught me something unique. I worked with amazing people who helped me strengthen my love for the truths we have as I taught each of them. They hold a special place in my heart. The Lord knows what each of us need in our lives. President McKay always use to say, "The Lord always hears our prayers but it is usually through others that He answers them."

Saturday Football

The Viewmont Vikings lose to the Bountiful Braves, 0-6. Although Viewmont lost they did play a better game. Trevor continued to step up his game as he played defense. He made sure that the Braves didn't get extra yardage. The previous night Trevor took a punch to the eye in trying to break up a fight between a bountiful kid and a teammate. A group of bountiful teens came over as Trevor came into the game to find friends. When Trevor saw a teammate take a punch to the stomach, he stepped in and ended up getting hit in the eye as well. The school officers came over to see what was going on and ended up questioning all the boys. We are proud of the actions of Trevor. Good job on being a true teammate and great job on not hitting back. Let's go Viewmont!!! Another chance to prove ourselves will come next week as Taylorville comes to Viewmont's home field. Let's get our game faces on boys!!!

The Lord TRULY DOES take care of us

You would think I would learn my lesson and just put all my fears into the Lord's hands but I guess I just haven't mastered that skill yet. Even though I doubt sometimes He always seems to step in just when my burdens seem the heaviest and He lifts them off of me. As I came home from work today I clicked onto my email and found a message from the BYU financial center. As I went to check it out to my surprise a scholarship had been awarded to me. Money that can be used to pay for housing, extra schooling, or to pay off my loan. For a few weeks I have been worrying that I wouldn't have enough money for various things. I have a great job but it isn't paying like my other job did. Now I have the priviledge of working at the MTC more which means even more of a loss in money...yet the spiritual blessing are so much more. Now the Lord has allowed me to live free of those worries and focus on continuing to strive in my education as well as helping those missionaries look like true representatives of Him. How blessed I feel at this time and I owe it all to Him, my Savior and Redeemer.
-Wendy